My Multimonitor Setup: Three Screens For One Computer

I’ve used three monitors for about two years now, and I’d never go back. It all started when I bought a new computer with a video card that had two outputs, digital and analog. I used the digital for my new 17″ LCD, but I wondered if I could get an old monitor going on the analog card. So I set my old 20″ CRT to one side, plugged it in and was amazed at how I could expand my desktop.

Honestly, if you’ve never used a multi monitor setup in Windows, it really does feel like magic. Using the Settings tab of your Display Properties, you can choose to extend your primary desktop onto the other monitor. And then that’s what happens. You have a super big desktop, where if you pick up something, you can drag if from one monitor and drop it onto the other.

The only problem with using two monitors I found was that my neck started hurting from looking only ahead or to the right. I figured if I got a third monitor going on my left hand side, I’d be moving my head around in various directions, avoiding any pain.

The alternative, I suppose, would have been to have had two monitors right next to each other in front of me. But I disliked this idea, because then my main natural viewing area directly ahead would be gone. I’d always be looking slightly to the left or right.

My bright idea meant purchasing two more 17″ LCD monitors plus another video card, so I’d have three outputs in all. It was worth the money. I couldn’t believe how much more productive I was. In my middle screen, I could write. On one of my other screens, I could read about something new happening. And on my third screen, I could test out what was being described. It was fabulous.

I recently graduated to 20″ LCDs for reasons I’ll explain more below (along with twin Nvidia gaming cards, handy if I ever want to link them together and run them as a single super accelerated card for games. I’ll never do that, but it’s nice to know I can). Here’s how the current setup looks:

I quickly found I needed two more purchases to make things fly to really do well with a multimonitor setup. The first was Ultramon, which I’ve written about before. It allows me to have a taskbar for each of my computer screens.

For example, currently on my main central monitor, I have FrontPage open. I also have my Outlook email window open. Both show on my taskbar on the middle screen. If I select one of the applications, I can switch to it.

Without Ultramon, Windows stupidly would put the applications I have open on my left and right monitors also on my main central window’s taskbar (my Outlook Calendar, Firefox, Paint Shop Pro, a few others would all show up). That’s because my other monitors wouldn’t have their own taskbars. Ultramon corrects this. In addition, it makes it easy to shoot any application from one screen to another. For instance, look at this:

See the two buttons to the left of the normal minimize, maximize and close window buttons? If you click on the one with the little arrow, that Choose Monitor window pops up that you can also see. Then click on the monitor you want to send a window to, and it magically moves over there.

The other key element is a good monitor stand. I’m appalled at the state of LCD stands. The new 20″ Dell monitors I bought late last year can’t be elevated to the height to match my eyes for good viewing. My old 17″ LCD monitors were worse. After some searching those years ago, I ended up going for an Ergotron base, a DS100 Triple-monitor Desk Stand. They aren’t cheap.

NOTE: Aside from the Ergotron monitor stand, which I’ll describe further, here are some other stands sold via Amazon (and FYI, if you purchase via these links, I earn a little on the sale. The Ergotron link above also takes you to Amazon)

I love the base except for two key problems. First, there’s no storage on it. Moreover, it’s got this weird peaked shape. If you look at my picture above, you’ll see the junk I’ve piled on it. Each pile leans slightly downhill. I wish they’d just made the thing flat, so my stuff wouldn’t slide off.

More important, the monitors can’t be tilted naturally in the way I’d like. Look at this:

– sorry, the picture’s now gone from the Ergotron site –

OK, that’s from the Ergotron site and shows you how they think the monitors should be set-up. Look nice a pretty, all seamless, right? And I can make my monitors look this way. The problem is, while it looks pretty, it’s uncomfortable to view them. The left and right hand monitors can’t be viewed directly straight on. In other words, I can’t turn my head and be looking straight at one of the side monitors. I literally have to turn in my chair and lean slightly to do this, to get a more comfortable viewing angle.

Here’s a closer up example from my own setup, before adjustment:

You should be able to see what a very slight bend the right monitor is on. It’s not tilted/angled in a way that both your eyes can look at it from exactly the same distance. Trying to look at it just isn’t comfortable. Now the monitors can be adjusted. You can set them up so that you can tilt them inward or outward from you, IE, adjusted horizontally. But look at this picture:

Notice how the top of the monitor leans more forward than the bottom? It’s incredibly annoying. Nor is there any reason for it to happen. These are standard VESA mounts. A monitor on them should be perfectly aligned between the top and the bottom. There should be no lean at all. OK, so why not just tilt the top back a bit. You can’t. The mount can either tilt horizontally or vertically, not both. Here’s an example with the vertical tilt setup:

If you go with this, sure, you can make sure the monitor doesn’t lean forward. However, then you’re back to the original problem of the monitor not being comfortable to view because it’s not tilted properly toward you horizontally.

I contacted Ergotron originally about this, but they were no help. In the end, I figured it must be a problem on my end and solved it by using washers. I shoved a bunch of washers under the bottom part of the mounting plate to help adjust for the bad angle. It works OK, enough that I’ve lived with it.

A few months ago, I upgraded my monitors, as I said. I discovered in doing so that it wasn’t a monitor problem on my end. Once again, the monitors leaned forward. This is just a badly designed mount. I ought to be able to adjust in all directions, horizontal and vertical. At the very least, if the monitors are set up with the sliding-bow pivot you see here, then they certainly shouldn’t be tilting forward as they do.

It’s also not just me. I was visiting a friend in California a few months ago. She had a dual Ergotron mount and her monitors did the same tilting thing as mine, tilting forward at the tops. She was also just as annoyed as me. But also like me, she lived with it because overall the mount is good compared to the relatively few other choices that seem to be out there.

I did contact Ergotron a second time after getting my new monitors in place, but once again, there was no help. I’ve been meaning to write up this up to visually explain it to them, so maybe there will be more luck.

FYI, top of my tech wishlist? I’d like a laptop that has a second screen that you could unfold. Forget tablet PC. Give me a laptop with two monitors, one that you can swing out when you have extra space but fold away when on an airplane. Going back to one screen is so hard — a laptop like that would be awesome.

Comments

Totally agree with the multimonitor recomendation! I’m sitting in front of 2 monitors right now and am dreaming of a third!
I also agree with the UltraMon recommendation. The Smart Taskbar feature alone makes it worthwhile. I also love the keyboard shortcut options that allow you to reposition applications on different monitors without using the mouse. I have to admit though that the nVidia drivers are approaching the level of functionality provided by UltraMon. (At least for my use.) If it wasn’t for the Smart Taskbar feature in UltraMon I’d seriously consider using just the nVidia drivers since they’re free. (Obviously this is only applicable if you use one of their cards.)
Lastly, the reason I made this comment is I wanted to point out a cool looking utility: http://www.maxivista.com/
I haven’t tried it myself yet but it looks like it quite possibly might be a cheap way for me to get that third monitor!

Man fate likes to punch me in the stomach sometimes. I literally just ordered a third LCD today, and the only way to fit them all on my desk was with the Ergotron desk stand, the very same model you have. And just like you, I like to tilt my monitors up a bit, but also very much inwards.
Now I have noticed something, I was looking at the technical drawings, and the pivot that attachs to the poll DOES swivel in all directions (correct me if I’m wrong), but I’m pretty sure it does, at least that’s what the diagram seems to suggest here.
Now assuming all your monitors have this lean problem equally, that will tilt them all straight again, but man, what a bitch!
I think I’m going to order it all anyways as I’d love the third monitor… Why they don’t use a ball joint is BEYOND me.
Regards,
Sean Murphysean@cerdonis.com (feel free to email me)

I had my laptop hooked up as a second screen but having to unplug it every time I wanted to take it out of the house was a pain so Santa brought me a dual monitor from DoubleSight this Xmas! I noticed TigerDirect has them on sale for $799 – Check it out here
(note: I have no affiliation with any of these products)

I have an nVidia card with the vga and dvi interface ports, so I can use two LCD screens, but when I connect the third one to my normal intgrated vga port on the dell desktop, nothing happens and looks like the computer does not see the standard vga port (does bios disable the regular port when nVidia is set up?), what did you have to do to get all three to show at the same time, did Ergotron manage it for you ?
Thanks …. Mark

You might need to right click on your desktop, get Display Properties, then in settings see if you see a third screen that’s all grayed out. If so, check the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor option.. Otherwise, yes, bios might be disabling it. Ergotron is just a monitor stand — nothing to do with the monitor output.

I too want to buy a new system which includes a 256MB NVIDIA 8600GT. I want to connect three monitors, 19” flat panels with VGA inputs. The use is strictly business, no gaming. I want all three monitors to operate independently to use different applications, so I am not interested in the third monitor just being a mirror of one of the other two. I have been told I need a second video card to achieve this result. If so, what second card should I get? Also, for my use is the 256MB overkill? Will the 128MB do the job?

I just bought the Stand and 2 monitors with the TripleHead2Go digital addition. I connected everything the way that it told me is suppose to be set up to my laptop. But for some reason only one monitor is turning on like if it was the only one connected directly to the laptop.
Can you help me out? I’m not sure if i did something wrong or still need to purchase something else that i didn’t know about.
Email me at ss_got3nkz@yahoo.com
I work with the military overseas so i might be on at different times.
Thanks Anthony

Hi,
I am in the phase of buying a new laptop and would like to know if there is a possibility of connecting 3 monitors to the laptop. I am currently thinking of buying a Toshiba or a Dell machine. Highly appreciate your views??
Thanks. Tarun

I have a ATI HD4870 Video Card with two DVI outputs.I can extend my desktop but what i realy want is the horizontal stretch so it can be for example 2 monitors 1024*768 = 2048*768 desktop so i can play Flight simulator X on both extended.
i’v played FSX on extended mode but it only displays in one monitor and i cant extend the image to 2 monitors , only transfer it from one to the other.
Any clue how to do it??? Basicaly is to do what Matrox Triplehead2Go does.

The solution to your problem with the viewing of the monitors is to replace it with 9X Media Triple Monitor Desktop Stand. As you can see from the animation, you can tilt the screen anyway you want. The monitors can be tilted 360 degrees….heck you can even flip the monitor backwards, spread the system wider or flip the screen to show to a seatmate in an instant without any loosening any bolts of using any tools. They are a bit more expensive because they are made of black annodized aluminum unlike the Ergotron stands which is made of Chinese Steel Tubing. The stand is also a bit heavy for more stability. And because of the ability to “spread” the arms, you can use different size monitors up to 32 inches! Awesome isn’t it?

I just happened to stumble onto your site and I noticed something. The mounts on the back of your screens aren’t all on the same way. I have deployed several of these dual-mounts from Ergotron and they will work out much better if the mount that holds the LCD to the long arm of the ergotron unit is the same on each LCD. If you look at your pictures, one of yours is laid horizontally (bolt going up and down), and the other is vertical (bolt going left to right).

Hey, that is pretty awesome. I’m thinking about getting setup like that when I head off to college.

As far as the laptop thing, check out thinkgeek.com. They have a thing where you plug in a usb screen thing that lets you expand it. It even tilts and stuff like an iPhone. I don’t have the time to give you a link, but it shouldn’t be hard to find.

I would really appreciate more information on the multiple video cards. I have been running dual monitors for years and finally see that I want a third one since I have gone to Windows 7 Ultimate and it will let you choose the monitor to output TV to. I am trying 2 video cards, one a PNY dual monitor PCI-E and the other a BFG Tech PCI vga single. I can only get one card to enable at a time, when it is the single PCI vga card, then I only get one monitor with video and it’s not the one attached to that card. The motherboard is an MSI P43 Neo.

Thanks for the great post. It inspired me to set up 3 monitors on my Dell Inspiron 530. I have an integrated graphics card that allows for one output, so I bought an MSI R4350 with three outputs (DVI, VGA, and HDMI).

Doesnt seem to like when I plug in one to the integrated and two to the MSI card, (only one or the two others work, but not all three at once)

Is it ok to run all three monitors off one video card? It has only heatsink, no fan – will that risk overheating?

My motherboard only has slot for one video card. Any guidance/advice you can provide will be so helpful.

I came across this post because I was searching for a way to connect 4 LCDs and one monitor to a single computer. My father in law wants to run some ads in his store and control them as needed with the application running on fifth monitor somewhere in the back. I was thinking to buy ATI Sapphire HD4850 X2 with 4 dvi slots and plug the fifth (smaller) lcd to motherboard integrated graphic card. I need all 5 monitors to be independent from each other but i am not sure if it will work as I expect. Also a 4 slot graphic card is little more expensive do you think a two graphic cards (w/ 2 slots each) will do the work as well? Is it even possible to do something like this? Thank you in advance for your reply.

Hi! I’m also interested with 3 monitor setup. Right now I have a GeForce 8400GS, has 1 x VGA port and 1 x DVI port. If I will connect 1 monitor to the vga port, then connect a 1-dvi input to 2-dvi output (Y-CABLE) and connect the 2nd and 3rd monitor there, will I have 3 independent monitors showing 3 applications or the 2nd and 3rd monitor can show the same applications only?

Akhilesh, you need to have a video card that has at least two outputs or two different video cards. That’s the first step.

Miro, if you have 4 different outputs, however you do it, they should work all independently. But you want to ensure you’ve got a good return policy on the off-chance there’s something unexpected that happens.

Clorenz, you have two outputs. If you split one, then you’ll simply mirror what comes off the split. Make sense? Think of it this way. Each hard output is like a different TV channel. If you split an output, you don’t get a different channel. You get the same channel twice.

I’m just wondering how much would this kind of set up be? Do I need to increase the specs of my CPU to have this kind of set up? What I mean is should I increase the capacity of my RAM and Processor etc. Thanks I would want to have this kind of set up. By the way nice to know you Danny

Actually, a DVI or VGA splitter does allow you to get 2 separate signals. I’m using one right now to give me 2 monitor displays – primary and secondary – using the “extended desktop” feature.

I didn’t know it could be done, either, until a couple months ago. I do not know whether you can use a splitter to give you 3 displays, but I do know that if you only have 1 output on your tower, you can use it to give you two individual signals. Windows recognizes it as 2 monitors.

Pretty incredible that this thread alone has been running for almost 4 yrs. Anyhow…

I currently have a dell inspiron 537 slim w/2 23″ dell hd monitors hooked up to it. One via the HDMI slot and the other with an HDMI to DVI cable using an ATI Radeon HD 4350 video card. To my surprise, the quality is excellent. Now, I need to order and additional Dell pc for my office. I’m looking to set up 3 of these same monitors but need a little help with the specs. What type of video card would you recommend to handle the 3 monitors? And finally, do you have any suggestions about minimum system requirements to run a set up like this.

Brett, I recently went looking for a single card that could do three monitors. There are a few, but they’re meant for gamers and expensive. And some modern PCs amazingly don’t seem to have a lot of free slots for a low end card. But that’s really the choice — one card that can do three, or two cards that each can run up to two monitors. However, USB options also work. That’s what I’m doing for my MacBook. See here: My MacBook Pro Goes Multimonitor: 4 Monitors At Once!

seems windows 7 pro won’t work with a mix of pci and pcie cards like xp did so if your boards only got 1 pcie slot youre limited to 2 monitors(or 3 with a hugely expensive game card). my intel board automatically disables onboard when theres something in the pcie slot.
all other cards get shown as a std vga video device that fails to start

I havnt been able to try with both cards from the same manufacturer, anyone else?any thoughts?

that looks really good mate of mine has 5 LCD screens all 20″ its amazing
im at work right now and im trying to hook up 2 more screens to make 3. i have my main screen plugged into the graphics chard which only has 1 DVI port and i have a splitter plugged into the onboard VGA, the other two screens appear as extended desktops but they are mirrored. does anyone know how with out downloading any program make it so my 2 extended desktop screens are not mirrored, they are just to seperate exteneded screens.

Absolutely agree with the multi monitor recommendation. I’m currently using dual 22” Acers in Horizontal span mode. Instead of dualview, which grants you only the one taskbar, horizontal span mode gives you one gigantic desktop; basically instead of 2 monitors of independent resolution I have one desktop running at 3360 x 1050, stretched across both monitors. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities- instead of choosing which monitor you want to view something on, you can also choose to view it on both at once! I watch HD movies and play games in Ultra-mega-wide screen!

Naturally, 3 monitors with this setup would make for the best gaming experience currently possible with affordable technology. I’m holding out on that dual SLI setup (and hence, three monitors) until I can afford top of the line cards… you know the feeling.

With horizontal span, there is no longer a need for Ultramon, thanks Nvidia!

I forgot to add… there is some confusion I have seen on various sites regarding dual and triple monitors for gaming…. some less savvy gamers have made the claim that you are not actually seeing more in game, but are instead just widening the existing image.

This is true for older games, before, say, 2003-2005. For newer games, though, once you have your desktop resolution set right (my 3360×1050), you can then choose that resolution in the options of a game, and the game will comply. It does not know you’re using 2 monitors, but the video card does and will do a great job splitting the images.

Just had to get that out there because in one particular case, someone refused to believe there was an advantage to be had.

I have nvidia setup along with vedio cards.
currently using dual display ,both dell monitors are hooked to Laptop docket station.Want to use laptop display as the third one.
What is required?
Thanks in Advance

Thanks for the useful post. There actually is a dual-monitor laptop! Your idea about this seemed funny to me at first, but then I came across the post on a site called CTOVision dated August 28, 2009. If you google “Finally: A (real) Dual Monitor Laptop” it should come up. Enjoy!

Hey guys, I’m also going for three monitors – for increased productivity and also gaming (obviously not both at the same time…).

ATI has brought out some new tech with their 5xxx series Radeon cards – it’s called ‘Eyefinity’ and allows you to run three monitors off one card (2 x DVI & 1 x DisplayPort). I’ve seen an online demo and it looks great, really seamless and easy to set up.

Check it out, as these cards should meet most people’s needs for three monitors (apparently they are bringing out a card which will run 6 monitors).

There’s also TripleHead2Go, which is older tech, not sure exactly how it works.

when you 1st got your machine, did it just have onboard graphics? I too have a 530, and just picked up a geforce 210 video card which has 3 locations to plug into, hdmi…dvi…and vga. however, you can only use two at a time. can I use hdmi and dvi from the card, and then vga from the stock graphics??

I have a 32″ 1080 in the middle. a 20″ dell floating to the left of it, and a lonely 20″ waiting for some love on the right side.

I’m currently finishing off my new ‘multi monitor’ setup I have 3 Samsung 23″ (SyncMaster 2333sw) monitors and want to add a 4th smaller Samsung (19″) that is more like what my clients would use, not sure yet about video cards to run it all or a bracket to mount them, I think I’m going to get a friend to fabricate something specific to my needs. I’m still looking at video cards but I think tht (2) Asus ENGTS250-DI may do the job

Can you help me with something? I have a radeon 5770 video card that allows me to use three monitors. So I thought but it’s probably just me. Here’s what I want to do. I have one computer, one dvi monitor, one vga and a projector that runs vga. I want to have a main monitor, second to be extended and then the projector to mimic what’s on the second monitor. Reason… I want to be able to do work on the main monitor while a presentation or video is running on the others. Does this make sense. I am in great need of wisdom here. I have ask the geek squad but that has only been a very expensive journey.
Please help!

It seems like from what I’m reading around the net that Windows 7 won’t support 3 monitors using two video cards. Is that true? Anyone have first hand experience with that? I was hoping to set up a Win7 system and hook up 3 monitors.

I’m running Windows 7 off my laptop with four monitors. One is the laptop screen, one using the external VGA port, then I have two Diamond USB cards that run two others. Works great. See my other post about this:

Ok, thanks for the clarification. I was hoping to follow the method above for WinXP where I had say an Nvidia 7950GT in PCIe running monitors #1 and #2 and some other lesser Nvidia regular PCI card to run monitor #3 but it sounds like from what you’re saying I need to find a motherboard with 2 PCIe slots and use the exact same card twice. Thanks again for the info.

I have just installed Vista 64 with 3 monitors, the two main ones running on GEforce8400 and the third one on a GE 6200. (all Nvidia).

Everything is fine but I would like the mouse pointer to move to the left of the main monitor as well as to the right. Main is in the centre, the one on the 6200 on the left and the second on the right.
Is this possible?

If I only have the main and the one on the 6200 card then the mouse pointer travels both ways.
Would Ultramon help in this situation?

Re. my last post, no Ultramon doesn’t do what I want either, downloaded the trial version, it’s a very good utility, unfortunately it is not what I want.
If you can help me with the mouse pointer problem, I’d appriciate.

go into display settings and drag the monitors to how they are arranged on your desk – same as xp – use identify to make sure, if they are different hights drag that way too – job done no need for 3rd party stuff.

the times are a changing March 25, 2010 at 8:34 am
go into display settings and drag the monitors to how they are arranged on your desk – same as xp – use identify to make sure, if they are different hights drag that way too
—————————————————————————-
Sorry doesn’t work for me.
I can rearrange the monitors or plug them in into different cards, which I don’t want anyway, but the mouse pointer simply will only move from to the left only to the right from the main monitor, and then move back to the left, once it reached monitor 3.
I’m using the latest Nvidia drivers, for Vista 64.
Under XP I only ever had two monitors so it wasnt a problem.
Thanks for your help.

I have an had a duel screen setup for about two years now with 17 inch laptop and a 19 HP screen I have been using for website design. Now that I’m doing video projects as well, I’m going to design and whole new computer system with three screens. Also going to build a home network in the house as well.

Update,
played around with the display drivers, and there must be a bug in the latest Nvidia64 driver, because going back to the previous one, works!
Shifting the No. 3 monitor to the left of the main one, now I can move the pointer to the left as well as to the right.
Great!

Only problem is, that now I had to download a third party utility to get the 1650*1050 resolution for my main monitor. No big deal.
Thanks again, very helpful forum.

There is hardware stuf, to connect 4 monitors without adding aditional graphic cards.100e or 130$ per monitor…as many monitors as you prefer..
I did not solve problem of vertical spliting…so my monitors are in line.
Profesional devices for vertical rearanging cost 1000e.
In my neighbourhood there is seller of this stuf devices, 500mb ram per monitor (to be without gliches)…but my expirience is half of it…250mb.0 if you will use it for office apps.

Video cards are 300$ or more…and there is problem with old pcs, without pcie slots.(ati supported vga+dvi and dvi+dvi v cards).
Maybe i will find soft for easy vertical manipulation in prefered configuration of multi monitors.

Interesting article. You mention that you can link your Nvidia cards together (SLI) if you want to. I have almost the exact same setup and I must report that SLIing two identical cards together became a nightmare. I don’t even think it works unless they are both the same model of card.

I kind of feel like SLI is a cheap, perhaps cynical, ruse to sell video cards.

I have 3 monitors set up….1 32″ LCD TV through an RGB connection, and then 2 monitors on two additional video cards. However, only the TV and one of the 2 monitors come up, the third is not detected. Is there something that I have to activate under settings?

I have windows vista os installed with nvidia geforce 7300 display card. I added two acer G195HQL monitors.. I am using a dvi-i-male-to-vga-female-converter-adapter to connect the other monitor.. My system often crashes due to display driver.. Any suggestions how to overcome this.

I use NVidia GeForce 7300 video card.. I have already mentioned this..
The second monitor is identified as Analog only.. It is identifying one monitor as Acer G195HQL and the other as Analog Monitor..

I have no issues about this.. but, The system crashes often due to blue screen referring some nvv******. That is the pain.. Dont know how to solve this..

Keeping aside the system crashing issue, Suppose If I use Two Nvidia Geforce Videocards in the same computer, Will I be able to connect 4 monitors or “n” number of monitors depending on the output ports availabe in the video cards?

Hi John,
if you have one card and having problems with two monitors, it’s most likely that your video driver is conflicting with something, or out of date. Try to update the driver.
Under Vista you HAVE to have cards of the same manufacture at least, and not far apart in drivers.
When I first installed Vista I could not get three monitors working on different brand cards.
Installed GEforce8400 and GE 6200. (all Nvidia). and have no problem

I checked the driver version and found a new one released last week by nvidia 197.45.. I will update it tonight and check the same..

Can you suggest for me for a 4 monitor setup.. what graphics card I should select.. for a trouble free system..

My hardware configuration is as follows..

Acer Monitors G195HQL, Viewsonic 22″ and samsung 22″.
OS : Windows Vista Business 32bit SP2.
Currently I have One GEForce 7300LE Graphics Card installed in the system. (Which additional card I should purchase in addition to this or replace this with a completely different one)..

Hello everybody,
My client wants to setup the LCDs on the airport to advertize the Ads,
he wants to maintain remotely 24hours,so can anybody help me out ,how to configure the LCDS through windows server,and what are the requirements.
Really appreciate for your help
Thanks

i need help…i have a laptop…with an extra vga output, on whick i could connect one monitor…but i would like to use a vga splitter on that output so i could have three monitors…is that possible ? and could i set my monitors in a order…those two monitors that i would add i want to make one left, and one right…and use the laptop monitor as the monitor in the middle…please help…:)

Allen, the VGA output will only power one external monitor. You can’t add an unpowered splitter and drive more than that — not if you want different images on the different monitors. Instead, you need a USB card for a monitor. See my other post, My MacBook Pro Goes Multimonitor: 4 Monitors At Once! for more about this. Even though it talks about the MacBook, the same USB adapter described will work for a PC laptop. In particular, look at the Diamond BVU195 or Diamond BVU160 adapters.

@Ethan
Ethan you are referring to a propriety port, that is not DVI that looks very similar. It has a single or double splitter that can be used as two separate signals, and comes as one or two, DVI or VGA ends. These are made by both nvidia and ati. We have 1,2,3 and 4 monitor set-ups here, all 30 inches on a trade floor, and use about 20 different models of video card.

Danny is correct in saying that splitting dvi or vga is just a duplicate image

I have gotten hold of a Radeon HD4870 (1 Gb, 2 x HDMI + 1 x S-Video) and I wan’t to know if there is any way I can connect my 2 BenQ T221WA monitors and my TV at the same time, under Windows 7 or by using Ultramon or the likes? I can live with a multiple display profile setup, where either the 2 monitors or one monitor and the TV is “active” and I can switch between the profiles without plugging/unplugging cables and restarting and so on..
Of course I would prefer both monitors and the TV utilized at once, but I can live with the aforementioned setup. Does anyone have any experiences with this combination?

ok, I have my laptop.. with a Y shaped cable with VGA plugins, i have 3 screens all up, but my laptop isnt picking up the 3rd monitor, so the 2nd and 3rd screens are clone, how do i stop this, ultramon doesn’t work for me :/ help please.

A non technical Query.. We all discuss about multimonitor setup.. I have a three monitor setup.. But, of late I have eye irritations and headache with three monitors.. I have set up the refresh rate at 75mhz..which is the max for my Acer 18.5 screens.. It was worst when I used samsung 22″ (SyncMaster 2233) which had a fixed 60 Hz refresh rate..

Any suggestions on how to avoid eye irritations and headaches.. what are your experiences in this aspect.. how do you tackle.. both technically and ergonomically..

John June 26, 2010 at 8:20 am
re. I have eye irritations and headache
Do you or did you have the same problem with one monitor or two only?
If not try to eliminate the cause by turning off monitors one by one for a time and see if the problem persists.
Some monitors are better than others in this respect, not only the refresh rate but the resolution matters.
Unfortunately some people are prone to this, and even fluorescent light will make them ill.
Good luck

I’m in need of a 3 screen setup for trading and a dell sales rep recommended nVidia quadro NVS420 or the ati firepro v3750. Im buying the system new so i am starting clean slate. What are the best option for 2 monitors and a HDTV and possibly a 4th monitor in the future? Thanks guys!

Hi,
I’ve been running three monitors for a while now using two cards, GEforce8400 and GE 6200. (all Nvidia).

The main monitor set to 1680*1050 the second to 1024*768 both on the GE8400
and the third one set to 1280*1024
Had no problem setting the different resolutions and the monitors worked fine.
———————————————————–
My problem now is that I bought a new 24″ monitor with a 1920*1050 native resolution.
Try as I might, I’m unable to set different resolutions and get a full screen.

If I set both the 22″ (native 1680*1050) and the new 24″ (native 1920*1050) to 1680*1050 then I get a full screen on both.

If I set 1920*1050 on the 24″ then I get an over sized image on the 22″ monitor, if I set both to native resolutions I get an under sized image on the 24″ monitor despite the resolution showing 1920*1050.
I’m at my wits end, can’t find an answer.
Anyone has an idea?

You had the right idea, and it should work, but you have the same problem as I did when trying to switch monitors between computers with a KVM switch.

You see KVM switches are designed to use one keyboard “K” and one mouse “M” to control two computers not just monitors or TVs as in your case.

Most are electrically controlled switches that derive their power from either the keyboard or mouse input.
You either have to use a mechanical switch (good luck finding one these days) or find one like I did with an USB input that you can power from an external power pack.
Might be able to connect it to one of the USB ports as well for power, not sure?

I used an external USB hub with a power supply and hooked up the switch with a simple USB cable from the hub for power.
Not at all elegant but it worked.
Now I have a 24″ TV-monitor so I don’t have to use a second computer with a TV card as a TV.

Incidentally I used Synergy software application to control the second computer instead of a KVM switch but still needed to switch one of my monitors because Synergy does not switch monitors only controls keyboard mouse and copy/paste.

I hope you got the gist of what I’m on about.
Good luck with it, what you want to do is simple but we make things far to complicated.

abi
Sorry i was rambling on and made it sound more complicated than I should have.

Basically what you want to do is to redirect one of your DVI outputs from your card to either a monitor or to the TV.
What you have to do is connect the output, by looking at the picture I think it’s at the back of the KVM switch, to the DVI on your PC, and then connect the monitor to one of side connector and the TV to the other.
It looks to me like the box has a mechanical push button, if it is then it just should work.

In case it is controlled electronically inside the box then you have to supply power to it somehow, I could tell you how if I had your set up in front of me, but I do not.
Does it have an LED light to indicate which monitor is on? Or just the position of the switch?
Connect it up first the way I told you, and see.
Good luck

hi
i have been running 2, 3 and 4 monitor systems for years (about 7 really)
to answer your question i have to assume you are not a hard core gamer, (nvidia )9500. so the easiest ( and cheapest) way wold be to get a motherboard with on board graphics. run two of the nvidia and the rest of the motherboard . just set the bios to use the onboard gpu by default. that doesn’t mean that your games will run of the motherboard, they will still run of the nvidia, just make sure the screen you want to run games is pluged into the nvidia.
If you want to splash out then you really want another 9500gt (identical if possible) so you only have to install one set of drivers, and as you have a nvidia card any crossfire board will do, just don’t link them together. its not magic and i don’t see why all these people are having problems as i said before “some people can’t see the wood for the trees”
p.s. my p.c. antec 300 case/ xilence 600watt psu/dfi lanparty motherboard/ q9500/ 4 gb ram/ 2 x 500 sata2 hard drives in raid 0/ 2 x ati 4650 gpu’s / 3x 22″ monitors
any problems just ask
p.s. dfi may be hard to get but anyone knows that they are, and have been the best for years and years and years and years………

what I am thinking is by changing the motherboard to one which will support two graphics cards ( I can buy one more nvidia graphics card) this quadcore processor and DDR2 ram..

I am not a computer hardware expert,..so looking for ideas from users who can suggest me a specific motherboard that can be used by cannibalising my present system components to achieve least cost of upgrading to a four monitor system.

It depends on the cards. If you use two cards, and they both have VGA and DVI outputs on them, you can use both outputs on one (if the card supports that, some don’t) and which every one you prefer o n the other.

I used two iball USB multimonitor support.. to connect two additional monitors… It creates problem (blue screen issues) in vista even with new updates for the display link software.. But it works fine with XP.

The number of outputs doesn’t equal the number of monitors you can drive. For example, I looked at a computer once that had DVI, HDMI and VGA outputs all on one card. Only two of them worked at one time — the VGA and/or one of the digital outputs, HDMI or DVI.

Hey,
I need a Desktop on which i want to connect 4 to 6 Displays, Like You Have Used 3 Displays in the above article. I need to know what hardware is required to make this possible and what motherboard will be best for the support for 6 Displays.

six screens mmm!
well forget about hdmi or really any outputs other than dvi or vga( hdmi is for tv’s really) you will want a motherboard that will support two graphics cards and have onboard gpu as well, that’s not going to happen. Why ? well onboard gpu is not for serious gamers and twin graphics cards are. So what to do…. there are some motherboards that take three graphics cards(the intention is to run 3x crossfire/sli) but you dont have to connect them together. (I use dfi (allways do, allways will) that has two pcie slots but i don’t connect them together(crossfire) and 2 hd 4850 cards to run 4 screens (3x 22 plus projector))
Basically you nead 1 graphics card for every 2 screen. Allways get the same make ATI or Nvidia as the drivers may not get along with each other.
For normal office work, watching movies or occasional games i found that HD 4650 were well good enough. Why have i gone to HD 4850, ‘cos I had twolying around and had nothing better to do for ten min’s one morning.
I would think the hardest part about six screens is finding a mount for them all without having another mortgage….
let me know how you go on.
Standard drivers (ati, nvidia and windows(all versions) are all you need, but you might like to play around with “ultra mon”

Hey btw i dont know if its already been mentioned but your screens, at least the right and left one can be adjusted so they face up. Your attachment that holds the monitor on the arm of the stand can go both horizontally and vertically. The one that you have vertical right now is actually facing more upwards the both the center and left screen. so consider switching the left screen one so that its also vertical and then trying to adjust them. Once again good luck with the setup but i thought I would point that out.

Shrey Marwa,
how much do you want, or are willing to, spend?
what do want to use this system for?
have you any preference for any particular manufacturers of components?
what op’sys’ do you want to use?
have you got the monitors?

Hey dude! Classy setup!! Very nice! So in addition: you went out and bought another graphic card to fit it ito the PCI slot, right? From there on, how did it go configuring the drivers and such so that all monitors do not conflict?

My laptop has both a vga and dvi output, in addition to the laptop screen itself. I can hook up two additional monitors to the laptop, but windows won’t recognize three at a time in “display settings”. My computer came with extra display setup software specifically for my card, but was erased during a recent reformat, and I can’t find it anywhere. Are there any good programs that will force the recognition of the third monitor? Thanks in advance

if you get all the same gpu makes (i.e. ati or nvidia, that includes the onboard gpu) then there are no driver issues or conflicts.
As to the laptop problem same goes….. what make of gpu is it in the laptop, go to that site and get the correct drivers.(clue.. if the screen will only play on the laptop in low resolution modes (800×600) but not high res (1280×1024 or better) then you probably haven’t got the right drivers.Also what spec’ is the laptop, if it doesn’t use a a seperate gpu you could be pushing it too hard.
what op’sys’ are you trying and what are you trying to use as 2nd and 3rd monitors..if it’s a tele then you are looking at a host of other problems that involve the tele not set up right…

I currently run a nvidia GTX 460 and a 9500GT. My intension was to use the GTX via DP for my 24″ main screen and the 9500 via DVI for two 21″ left and right of it. I don’t want to run games over all three screens,
but the space for 3D, Image and Video edit.

But if I connect the third screen (21″), my main screen disconnects.
I can see all three monitors in the display setup, but can’t activate more than two of it. I also tried Ultramon, but it doesen’t change a thing.

Is it really true that running three monitors under Win7 needs two graphic cards of the same type? No way to get it running with the two cards I have?

hi
1 i assume DP stands for display port. i have no experience with a dp but know you need a special monitor for these
2 what happens if you don’t use the dp but either the dvi or vga from the gpu. try it. if it works you know its something to do with the dp settings
3 you don’t have to use two gpu’s for 3 or 4 monitors if your motherboaord has onboard gpu, however you should use the same make of graphics card as the onboard gpu just to stop driver conflicts
4 graphics card should be of the same make (i.e. nvidia or ati) they don’t have to be the same model number. (e.g. an ati 4870 and an ati 4650 work fine together, however an ati 4850 and an nvidia 9800 crash) at least in my experience.
p.s. what m/b are you using?
p.p.s. i stopped using nvidia a while back because
1 the drivers, especially under sli, where rubbish
2 ati are cheaper, faster and don’t sound like a harrier jump jet
my system is in a cupboard under a desk, and even when stressed you have to open the door to hear it

1 Yes, DP = Displayport.
2 I use a NEC PA24W as main monitor for 100% (almost) Adobe RGB.
To achive this, I have to connect it via displayport..
But I guess I test it with DVI just to make sure it isnt the DP
connection.
3 I dont have onBoard graphic.
4 I run the same driver for both cards, its the latest.

I have to use nvidia, because I want to run vray gpu, a renderengine for gpu rendering. It supports only nvidia cards. For the same reasons I need as much RAM on the gpu as possible, which is 2GB in my case.
The 460 isn’t as bad (noise) as the 470/80 and also does not get that hot under full load. Another important point, considering that the card will be under full load for a long time (rendering).

not only do they need to be the same manufacturer they also need to be the same generation to use the same driver files. yours are not so will not work.
ati’s are no way as good for pro rendering applications (cheaper for simple game triangles though)
for your work i suggest 2 identical cards, do it right if you don’t want issues. (many card codes will be different but the underlying driver is the same). cheap=headaches.

Its probably the drivers. If I connect all screens via DVI, it works!
But as expected, I loose the color profiles of the NEC that way.
I contacted the Zotac support. As it seems they have no expierience with displayports, so they will ask nvidia for new drivers.

2 if i connect the pc in the conservatory by dvi or vga to the samsung tv and the resolution is not correct, then the screen goes blank.(okay with hdmi).In your case, maybe when you connect three screens. the default order is changed and the resolution sent to the 24 is out of
range. As all monitors will accept basic 800×600 resolution ( i assume this also applies thru D.P.) try setting all outputs to this. If all three work at 800×600 then thats the problem and you can adjust resolution one at a time. If you get one that doesn’t work then after 15 secs it will revert back to the previous setting.
best of luck

hi Joe
cards may have to be the same generation with nvidia, but that is not the case with ati. E.g. i have a pc that runs a 4870 pci and a 9600xt (that is old) I used to be a strong nvidia supporter up untill recently, but i gave up on them as i have a central heating system in the house and the house is warm enough if you get my meaning
Present system
Antec 300
Enermax modular 700
Dfi Lanparty
Q9300 at 2.7 gig
4gb ram (crucial)
2X500 sata2 in raid zero (thats why the floppy)
2x ati 4850
3 monitors and 1 over head projector
floppy and card reader
windows ultimate 64 or xp 64
running temp under stress never above 45 degrees and hang i’ll open the cupboard door to see if its on as i can’t hear it
sons system is similar exept cpu runs at 3.0 gig, 8 gig ram. 4 hd’s in raid and 2 4870 together

5$ software to control dual monitors can be really useful to control and manage dual monitors. The Software’s name is MurGeeMon and has really lots of features worth looking if using dual monitors. The Software is available at http://www.murgee.com/MurGeeMon/

danny,
cool setup, i have 2 monitors next to each other as well, but i just got a tv(which is above my 2 screens) and i tried to setup a third screen.
my computer has 3 outputs for screens but it doesnt recognize the third screen.
i already tried plugging in the tv in stead of one of the two screens. That works, so its not the tv, what im trying to figure out is how to get all three at the same time, i have a nvidia card.

i want to purchase a laptop and i want to connect 6 displays with it for my stocks work, so i need help, how can i connect 6 displays with it, is there any external hub to do so? which laptop would be the best?

hi shrey
6?
do you want them all to show the same (clone) or all different (extended)?

personally the only time i would ever buy a laptop is to watch videos on the move….they are expensive, unreliable and if you need one for stock or something similar you should be buting a decent desktop pc with built in redundancy like raid 1 so as to protect your data in the event of system failure or crash….but thats just me (i have a sony vaio just because it was a present but even at nearly 1500 quid, between you and me, its not a patch on a desktop)

Hey, what cheap graphics card do you recommend for a three monitor setup? Four years at least I see since this is possible and still they’re trying to get me to buy an expensive card for this, when quite clearly there’s probably a cheap alternative. I’m using Vista. There’s gotta be an option, man!

I was using an Nvidia before, is it true you cant use ATI where you recently put an NVidia? Doesnt matter what I get, but the only cheapies for three monitors ive found up till now were ATIs, NVidia are reported to be tremendously buggy with this aim in mind

hi jiri
forget what you have been told
neither nvidia nor ati are better or worse at running three screens
you can do it two ways
1 graphics card and on booard graphics, but you must use the same make of card as your motherboard uses
2if you have a crossfire or sli board then two graphics cards of the same make

i don’t recognise your motherboard (nor does google)
google cpuz and download it, this will tell you the motherboard, then tell me
its not hard really to run multiple monitors, most people just can’t see the wood for the trees

unfortunately belarc gives the same pegatron crap that cpu-z’s telling me. And the guy at HP is saying i need to change my power supply to 550 watt…

Way i see it is even thou your setup was in 2006 you probably had a different motherboard. THe basterds at whatever corporation evil motherboard graphics card alliance must have updated their compatibiliy systems in such a manner that makes it impossible to stick in an old card in there… but please prove me wrong…

I remember reading that by looking at your old cards you could deduce what your motherboard was compatible with, either PCI or PCI Express etc, I’m looking at my burnt up card (the fan crapped up on me) and I’m wondering if you know where I can find pictures of these things from which I could recognise the shape as being the one my old card has?

Maybe you can go to that forum and argue him down , but i doubt it, I’m probably condemned to having to buy a power supply for this setup, which is probably 100 euros… and god knows what compatibility problems that might bring… not to mention it’s nearly the cost of a pc these days…

I wonder if these eyefinitys can be run on 300W for only two monitors meanwhile… of course if theres an option outside ATI I’m all ears.

OK, forget what I just said, I just reread your first comment, which I’m not sure I still understand. This pegatron is probably not a crossfire or an sli, or sli and crossfire are maybe just a technology it does or does not incorporate?

The other part I dont understand. The onboard graphics, what is that? The crappy integrated card I’m using right now that goes out from the bottom of the pc, and that everyone says shouldnt be used as a third monitor to a graphics card that’s already dealing with two??? All I’ve read about that theory is that the pc implodes if you try to do that…

hi
intergrated graphics..on the motherboard where all the external connections are, the mouse, the keyboard, sound etc, is there a vga amongst those, if yes then that is integrated or onboard graphics

below all these are several slots in the case that are filled with either blamks or other expansion cards. does yur monitor fit in one of these,
then this is an graphics card

if it is at the very bottem it is probably a pci card (buy a pc from this century), if it is about 4 or 5 inches from the bottem it is probably either a pcie or agp card depending on how old your pc is, either will do

a 300w power supply is a bit marginal, you want to go for about 500w unless you are really into powerful games performance. i don’t know what prices are like in spain but here that would cost about £25.00 ( my son uses a xfx one rated at 850watt that cost me £85.00, but his pc is a true monster)

you don’t need eyefinity unless you’re into playing games again and eyefinity is different to running three monitors plus you will need spacial monitore for eyefinity
any chance youcan take a decent photo or two of the inside of the pc and send it me

Firstly you need to know the type of onboard graphics card your system has. It will probably be nvidia, ati or intel.

Secondly you will need a graphics card of the same make so that you will not need to load drivers that may conflict.

Thirdly the bios is set to onboard gpu by default. The other two screens will kick in when the software loads on start up.

I guess that your system (h. p.)will use an Intel cpu and intel on board gpu, if that is the case then I would think hard why you want three screens, two would be easy, but three…
I don’t know about prices in Spain, but here you could get 2 graphics cards (Ati 4350) a new m/b and a new psu for about £120.00

I, and my son, have run three or four screens for several years now. We have used various combinations of onboard and graphics cards, and have found that as long as all parts are by the same manufacturer then there is no problem.

if you have a m/b with an intel chipset (not cpu) then the pictures will be drawn by an intel graphics system
it may well conflict with any other drivers you try and add e.g. nvidia detonator or ati catalyst

if you want me to recomend a system set up then i will want to know your cpu (478/755) and ram type (ddr/ddr2/ddr3) unless you want to start from scratch
personally i prefer to use a m/b with two pcie slots, and fit two identical cards

power supply is at the top, or at least thats where all the tiny Watt labels are, despite it being so confusing the bottom also looks like a power supply.

I was thinking from the looks of it, it only seems to have space for one graphics card, since I can’t see a second line like the one that, seems like PCI 16 that could hold a second graphics card, though i may be wrong…

Incompatibility issues between these kind of cards, be they NVidia or ATI, and the integrated Intels, seem to be what people refer to when they say you can’t put the graphics card together with the integrated onboard one. I see now what you mean by having an integrated Nvidia or ATI already on your motherboard for this to work. This pegatron is probably an intel chipset. I posted it over at the HP forum, and it’s probably a ”Intel(R) G33/G31 Express Chipset Family [Display adapter]‘

I’m wondering then I’m condemned to having two graphics cards, but wondering how i’ll get this on the motherboard when there’s only one slide with space for a graphics card, it seems like it from the photos.

IBM released a pc standard that, more or less, we use today.
The first type wsa known as an AT system, thenafter a few years things progressed and improved and it became the ATX that we all (nearly all ) have today. Afew years ago Intel tried to fob us all of with cpu’s that ran hotter and hotter and pc’s began to overheat. So they came up with a BTX system but no-one liked it because it was different to everything that came before, I thought that only DELL used it, after all the receive massive hand outs from Intel, but it looks like HP used it as well.

What gives away a BTX system is that the motherboard is on the opposite side of the case to an ATX system.

Back to you. You can salvage most things, but you will need a new case, psu,motherboard and graphics cards to achieve what you want, and I suspect your are running an Intel Pentium 4 socket 478 cpu. Are you up to a complete buuild from scratch? I don’t know what your level of expertise is. Maybe it would be easier for you to buy a ready built pc that is either sli or crossfire capable and adding a secong graphics card, I don’t know. Basically you want a luxury mansion and you are starting with a shed. Sorrry.

Lol, thanks well at least we tried. I’m afraid building from scratch will have to wait. I’ll make do with two for the time being, totally essential to get work done on the internet, one is way way too crampy. I guess I’ll have to put in an Nvidia card as the motherboard previously had one and it was used to it. Which one would you recommend? Cheapy one!

So the BTX system is the reason my pc can’t handle two graphics cards? And if it could handle two, I’d see two pci slots instead of the one I think I’m seeing? Do i have it right?

i have never used ati eyefinity, but do not believe it will do as you want.
my understanding, and I could be wrong, it that eyefinity gives you a wider view of the centre screen. e.g. if you are playing a game you can see more to the left and right than just the centre screen. It does not let you run three independant different screens. Also you will need a special monitor that takes a “dislplay port” (new type of hdmi)
if you use this as a work machine only then try this

‘The BTX form factor motherboards are incompatible with most of the ATX form factor cases and vice-versa. In particular, BTX motherboards are ‘flipped’ compared to ATX and mount on the opposite side of the case. Some cases such as the Cooler Master Series (Stackers) support a varying range of motherboard types such as ATX, BTX, Mini-ATX and so forth. However, all connectors are compatible, including power supplies, PCI cards, processors, RAM, hard drives, etc.’

I’m not sure what to do. Am i right to conclude the only issue is between a motherboard and a type of case, BTX or ATX, and that all other things don’t matter. As long as it has a PCI slot for my graphics card, it should work, right? And yet, there aree graphics card like the one above that for some reason that escapes me, say they are ATX.

I’d thought about getting the ATI 5450, as it’s supposedly Eyefinity, as Eyefinity reporedly starts at 5400 with the ATIs. That way I can expand to a three monitor setup, or at least envision the possibility. But for now, I guess I’m OK with two monitors.

My understanding of having different monitors is indeed one where you can have different mozilla windows, hopefully that’s a possibility with it.

the problem with you having a btx is that if you want to rebuild you will also need a new case

eyefinity? i repeat
“i have never used ati eyefinity, but do not believe it will do as you want.
my understanding, and I could be wrong, it that eyefinity gives you a wider view of the centre screen. e.g. if you are playing a game you can see more to the left and right than just the centre screen. It does not let you run three independant different screens. Also you will need a special monitor that takes a “dislplay port” (new type of hdmi)”

Wow, freaky shit. Two graphics card together, first time i’ve seen that! On one PCI express! Was wondering why you’d posted a used item on ebay for 150 pounds but now i know!

Thing is, it says it’s Win XP ready, but no mention of Vista or 7, which is where I’m at. Does this usually matter with graphics cards. Are they usually not OS forwards compatible?

And it says it requires a 350W PSU and I believe I have a 300W. So two questions about this. You think only one of these two GPUs could be played for less wattage consumption while I wonder what PSU to get? And what PSU do you recommend?

hi
just about everything that worked under xp will work on 7 without even installing the drivers. Seven is really good at that, and look on nvidias site, i bet you can get drivers there if you need them

change the psu, get a decent one of about 450 to 500 watts(or more) a 500 wat psu doesn’t use 500watts if it is not called for,but it is there if needed
it is false economy to skimp on a psu, honestly

and i don’t think there is any difference in atx or btx psu’s, but having never stuck my fingers in a btx system, i wouldn’t guarentee it

changing a psu is simple, you cant plug the wrong plug into the wrong place, they just won’t fit it’s just psu out-psu in
keep the cable neat to aid cooling

Hi
want to hook up a third monitor, current run two off a nvidia 8400 GS PCI-e graphics card via VGA and DVI connections. motherboard has two addition slots for PCI cards. will i have to purchase an additional PCI graphics card to allow me to run third monitor?

hi jake
1 does your motherboard have on board graphics?
2 in theory you should be able to run a 8400 pcie and another nvidia pci card together, BUT pci cards are so old you may well have driver problems

Hey there whats up! The NVS look good but being an international buy at ebay, I’d be going for at least 130 euros for the GPU itself. Plus the PSU, another 30 or 40, so Ive been maturing my research on this matter and was wondering what you thought about the TripleHead2go system. See, with it i might just be able to save having to buy a new PSU and this GPU, get a much cheaper but still capable of gaming GeForce or ATI, unlike NVS, and if I’m going to be spending about the same… which would compensate for the price of the TripleHead2go, which admittedly would be about 150… what ya think? you come across these thingies?

hi jake
normally to enter the bios you press “f2″ or “delete” as the system “posts” or starts

then you will have to look thru’ all the different pages untill you find the one that gives you the option to change the first screen

i’m sorry i can’t be more specific, but you have a dell (my feelings towards dell are allready known)(would you buy a car with a different pedal layout, say the clutch in the middle) well thats what happens when you buy a dell
sorry

hi jake
i don’t know of a graphics card that will let you run THREE independant screens, do not be confused by “eyefinity”

just because a card has 3 outputs it doesn’t mean that all 3 work at the same time
e.g my pc runs 2 x hd4850′s each one has 2 dvi and 2 video s, but only 2 work at the same time on each card

if your m/b will not let you set onboard by default, then
a/ stick to 2 screens
b/ try an nvidia quadro (not games)
c/ replace the m/b, but as you have a dell i suspect that won’t be an option
d/ replace the lot and buy a p.c. (dell do not conform to the pc standard, thats probably why you are having “fun” with it)

My multi-monitor wishes are quite modest as I only wish to run a dual monitor extended desktop, however… one little detail is my laptop design proves to be quite a challenge.

I have a Sony Vaio laptop with a Radeon 5650 graphics card. I have one HDMI and one VGA output. The two ports though are very close together making it impossible to fit both a VGA and HDMI plug next to eachother !!

So I have the ports but Sony decided I cannot use them both at the same time.

I looked a little bit at the splitter cables, and I read in this thread someone claiming it can support two seperate displays rather than two cloned displays.. But i’m having doubts if this can work.

I’ve seen here also the USB connecting video outputs, but I need a resolution of at least 1680×1050 so that one’s crossed of the list too..

Is there any other possible solution to this silly problem?
Of course I can connect one external display and have the laptop screen as well, but I’d like to be able to use two high res external monitors.

Nice thread with good advice , I am going through the multiple monitor learning curve,currently I am up to the laptop – Tosh Qosmio- connected to 47″ led tv on extended setting -working beautifully , now I realise I want to extend onto another couple of monitors , not sure my GPU (geforce gt330 M) will do it on its own – is it possible to have an external graphics card that stays at home with the monitors as I am happy enough with the laptop as it is when out and about

hi
there’s a new kid on the block.
just replaced the 4870 pair with 1 x 6950
not just an ordinary 6950 but the latest “eyefinity 6″ version
this has 6 screen outputs and will run 6 screens all by itself, not just in clone or extended but as 1 big, really big screen.
i am running 3 monitors, set as 1 at a resolution of nearly 6000×1200
but,,,,…..
there are a few drawbacks, you need at least 4gb ram, a quad core cpu, at least 3 screens, a big desk and deep pockets. the new 6950 cost £250 quid but man its good. in games its like taking the blinkers of, you can see around corners. i’m sold
anyone want to buy :-
2 x 4870
2 x 4850
2 x 4650
anyone?

Heya, thanks for all the good info here, especially to Danny Sullivan and “Dad”. I am no techie, though I wish I were hehe. I have never built a rig, and am trying to learn what I can. Currently I do a bit of gaming, though mostly older online games like EQ. I currently run 2 comps side by side, with 1 monitor each. I am thinking of definitely getting a 2nd monitor for my main comp, and maybe even a 3rd if I can just get rid of the 2nd comp, since it is an ancient Dell that is a piece of junk. I am not sure if I can just buy a 2nd monitor, or if I need to make any other purchases as well, and would welcome some advice/help.

So If I understand what has been posted earlier, I need to buy a new video card that is an NVidia card, or instead buy a new MB?

with my current setup, is it worthwhile to try upgrading this addmitedly older unit or should I just try and go out and start all over? I would rather not spend $700 or so on a new computer, so if I can spend just a little and let this current rig survive a bit longer that would be sweet.

hi “googs”
1st dell are good for one thing,,,,,filling the bin. now for the serious bit
look at the out puts on your graphics card. is there 2, they dont have to be the same, one can be vga, one can be dvi or any mix of the two.
if there are two outputs then push the dell to one side and unplug the screen. plug that screen into your other p.c. ( you made need an adadptor, but they are 2 a penny) and boot that p.c. when booted, right click on desk top, personalise,display,adjust resolution. here you will see option to move the monitor positions, turn on and change resolution of and generally play with both screens.

if your current card does not have two outputs then buy a new one. any decent card will do. i have just this evening set up two 19″ screens on a freinds p.c using a very very old ati x300 128mbcard., so anything decent will fly easily

just ‘cos your m/b has an nvidia chipset does not mean you have to buy an nvidia card, unless your card has onboard graphics and you want to use that. that path can (sometimes) become complex

i don’t know the games you play, but i could run most games good enough for me (but not my son, see previous) on an ati 4650 and they are cheap as chips these days.

thanks for the quick and very helpful response “dad”. your post has some great info. I agree wholeheartedly with your evaluation of Dell hehe. I like to plea a case of temporary insanity when I bought it. I was really short of cash at the time, and it was a refurbished one I got off Ebay for a small, very small price, which still does not justify it hehe.

The only reason I still use it today is more for a backup in that I can game on the decent computer and still be able to look up info online if/when needed, as well as play music. I have had some bad luck with itunes in the past. I got a virus on the decent computer a while back, and the local store took 4 months to fix it hehe. On top of that, now all my Itunes library, some 40 gig of Music, is all on the Dell, and I am not sure how to move it over to the better computer.

I have been really behind the times on tech, and am slowly trying to get caught up a bit hehe. Up until 2 weeks ago I had the 2 comps side by side, with main keyboard just in front of me on desk, and the 2ndary in front of that, where I had to stretch my hands over the first. 2 weeks ago I finally ordered a stand that raised the 2ndary keyboard, making it easier to reach. Then, 3 days ago I found out about “mouse without borders” that lets you use 1 keyboard and 1 mouse for multiple machines, so the $40 I spent on the keyboard stand is now useless except as a paperweight. I’ll find some use for it I am sure though.

As for gaming, I pretty much only play Everquest, and have off and on for 10 years. It is an older game, so while it does not demand as much as newer games, it can be a bit clunky when it comes to coding, since nobody ever figured it would be around for this long. I multibox mostly, though I do enjoy raiding on 1 toon etc with guildies, or filling out a guildie/friend group with whatever toon is needed at the time.

Here are some current thoughts, and i would appreciate more advice if you would be so kind.

1) move Dell to bedroom and save it for printing, music whatever. Its monitor is an older 19inch that has max resolution of 1440 x 900, so a newer monitor would go better with my gaming anyways and would nt be too much more expensive.

My current video card does have 2 connection bits in the back of it, so a 2nd monitor is possible on it, though I will take a look at newer video cards, including the one you mentioned. I looked up a US site for that card and it said “currently not available” but that was just a first attempt, in order to see what a ballpark price.

The reason I had mentioned new motherboard was in case you reccomended I make a move to 2 video cards. As I understand it, if you go with 2 video cards, in order to run 3 monitors etc, you need to use the same brand as the internal one built on the MB. In my setup, I have a different brand external video card from the one on my MB.

Basically, I apologize for my ramblling but I only recently sat down and started really researching options, and my techworld has been expanded manifold in the last week or so between hardware options and software options. I am now trying to digest it all hehe. I just started using the “mouse without borders’ software, and am learning its idiosyncracies as well.

My desk is maybe a bit too small for 3 monitors, though I might be able to rig something up. I was not sure my decent computer could handle running 3 accts at the same time, but I think it actually could. Therefore, the need for the 2nd computer to be on same desk is no more, and I can move it off to a different spot, leaving more room on the desk. It would be very hard to go down to just 1 monitor after getting used to even 2. Even now I am wishing I had kept the old CRT monitor I finally tossed out 5 months ago that had been sitting in a closet. If I had that, I would have done the move already today in my spare time.

So, Decided to post a quick update. I woke up yesterday to clean house for a last minute visit from family. As I drink my coffee, I go over to check email. My main computer monitor has gone into standby mode, which is odd, since I have it set not to do that. I restart, and the monitor is oddly very dim, and the image flickers. There is also an odd hissing noise that is active whenever there is power going to the monitor. The noise stops when I restart the computer, but then returns, along with the other symptoms.

I look online and sounds like is a problem that will take a while to fix via Acer, so I find out the name of the part I need, and head to the local catastrophe of a computer shop, where I had seen online they had something similar for sale as well, a refurbished for $80. I figured I would work with acer to repair, but meanwhile would have a replacement.

Upon reaching the store, I find out they don’t carry monitor parts, so I take the refurbished, and a 22inch I just had to have as well lol. I also got a new vid card that was on sale, an Asus 5450, for the main comp, as well as a card to set the old, crappy comp onto the network wirelessly.

Only switched in new bigger monitor, then spent time with family. Today, I decided to install everything during some downtime between jobs. I move the old computer, with its crappy working monitor, to the bedroom. Once everything is set up, plugged in and rdy to rock, I hit the power button. The monitor no longer registers the computer. It just says no connection, though I can see power is going fine… It was working 10 mins before whenI unplugged it all to move…

Fiddle with old comp a bit but nothing doing. Rather than throw it out the window like I feel. I decide to workon main comp. Insert new vid card np, on only 1 monitor to start. Update vid card and all good. Pull out the refurbished new monitor I got yesterday, insert all the plugs and connect etc…. And… would you believe it…. nothing, not a glimmer of power or anything..

So in all, I own 4 Acer monitors. Of those 4, 3 do not work…. I am now down a computer, so rather than 2 comps with 1 monitor each, I have 2 comps, the old 1 with no working monitor, and a new comp with a great new monitor, and a dead monitor sitting right beside it….

hi
sounds like a normal day
just check the basics
the old one worked down stairs so it should work upstairs. when carrying ithe screen have you presed a button so no its looking for a dvi signal and you are connected by vga maybe. it will be something as daft as that

hi danny, my name is Jack, I have an office in Queens County New York and i have a front window where ive been given permission to run a monitor presentation of 5.5 x 5.5 feet I would like to link several monitors together to make up this size and run the monitors as one large single picture to run powerpoint presentations i would like your advice on doing this and i would be happy to pay you to help me, please let me know you can call me at 718 526 8100 m-f 9-5 please ask for my assistant Marcia Greaves, she will connect us, thank you

i have connected two lcd monitors using a vga splitter from my laptop, my laptop is screen one and the other 2 monitors are both screen 2 but how do i get the 2 other monitors to show different things. do i need to use a specific software??

hi ishy
you can’t
your laptop has 1 vga port, thats 1 output signal. you can’t split it into 2 different signals you just mirror the signal .
queston….. if you have all that desk space for three screen, why prat around with a toy computer (i.e. laptop) when could have a real one?

well my situation is the same as danny sullivan in october 20 2010
here it is
{[Danny Sullivan October 20, 2010 at 10:01 am
The number of outputs doesn’t equal the number of monitors you can drive. For example, I looked at a computer once that had DVI, HDMI and VGA outputs all on one card. Only two of them worked at one time — the VGA and/or one of the digital outputs, HDMI or DVI.
But yep, experimenting is great.]}
so does ny person know how to make the 3 monitors work